Transport type trailers designed for hauling dry bulk goods commonly include a pneumatic loading and off-loading system. The pneumatic system includes an air pump/blower and an air filter unit that are mounted on the outside of a frame rail of the truck tractor unit. Typically, the pump/blower includes a cooperating large diameter cylindrical air filter housing that provides filtered intake air to the pump/blower.
These truck pump/blowers are offered by a number of different manufacturers and are mounted on L-shaped brackets secured to an outside surface of a frame rail of the tractor. In some cases the pump/blower is mounted to the exterior of the frame rail on one side of the tractor and the filter unit is mounted on an opposite side of the tractor on the other frame rail. In some installations both the pump/blower and the filter housing are located on the same side of the tractor. The filter housing is typically a large cylindrical unit with air passing generally vertically through the filter unit.
Typically the pump/blower and the filter housing are positioned to overlap with the respective frame rail.
With tractor trailers, the amount of equipment carried by the tractor continues to increase and available mounting space has become limited. For example, wind panels or wind deflectors are often mounted to the frame rails of the tractor to improve fuel efficiency and fuel additive tanks are mounted on the outside of the frame rails and/or behind the tractor cab. In contrast to the traditional cylindrical filter unit having a large cylindrical filter cartridge housed therein, the present invention utilizes a different arrangement that is narrow in profile, non-circular, and designed to be more effectively mounted with the other equipment carried on a tractor trailer.